Hollywood’s most troubled stars, photographed by Cecil Beaton

Marilyn Monroe, Ambassador Hotel, 1956. Photograph by Cecil Beaton
Marilyn Monroe, Ambassador Hotel, 1956. Photograph by Cecil Beaton  Credit: The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

Cecil Beaton came to Hollywood in 1929 with writer and close friend Anita Loos and her husband, director John Emerson.

‘It is impossible to exaggerate the extravagance of Hollywood,’ he wrote in his scrapbook. ‘Or to burlesque its crazy fantasy, for in most things it is beyond the wildest flights of fancy.’

He brought with him an 8x10in portrait camera at the prompting of [American entrepreneur and publisher] Condé Nast, who had insisted that he approach Hollywood portraits with more ‘serious’ equipment.

‘For the first few days in Hollywood I cursed Condé Nast under my breath each time I had to make an exposure with my beastly camera,’ Beaton later said. ‘To have to abandon my old snapshot camera and start with my new apparatus was like having to walk with a wooden leg after an amputation.’ 

Despite this initial handicap, Beaton’s early years capturing the stars would create a new visual language in portraiture for the film studios. 

Over time, Beaton became a Hollywood insider, and during the years when he was working on Gigi and My Fair Lady, his most cherished moments were spent scouring the well-stocked studio warehouses and working with teams that could create overnight anything he desired in the way of sets and costumes.

He photographed some of the most iconic Hollywood stars of the golden age of cinema. 

Nureyev and Fonteyn

The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, multiple exposures, 1962 Credit: The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

Nureyev was invited by Fonteyn to dance at the Royal Opera House immediately after his defection from the Soviet Union. Said Beaton:  ‘My very bloodstream was altered by the thrill of what was being performed.  He was then like a wild animal to deal with. One never knew how he would behave and I tried to hide my terror and show my admiration, which amounted to infatuation.’

Marlon Brando

The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Marlon Brando,  Japan, 1953 Credit: The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

Beaton later said of Brando: ‘He has lost his looks in 10 years, looks like a heavyset businessman, podgy hands, a thick build… But his behaviour is all that could be desired, courteous, cooperative, good-humoured, but quiet and restrained smile, a tongue flip an occasional reminder of his embarrassment at giving spontaneous performances for camera and microphone.’

With Gary Cooper

The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Beaton with Gary Cooper, photo by Otto Dyar, early 1930s Credit: The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

Beaton wrote: ‘Gary Cooper [below right], the naive Montana youth from the dude ranches, out of his element when out of the saddle, was miserable during his first successes in the papier-mâché confines  of Hollywood, with greasepaint covering his Adam’s apple and his  hair set in waves by the company’s coiffeur.’

Leslie Caron

The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
Leslie Caron, Reddish, 1958  Credit: The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

Caron recalled this photo session: ‘The publicity shots were taken at Reddish, Cecil Beaton’s house, which was heavenly. The only  thing is I was seven months pregnant by the time we took these pictures and it was a little difficult to hide.’

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe, Ambassador Hotel, 1956
Marilyn Monroe, Ambassador Hotel, 1956 Credit: The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

‘Behind this brilliant, pseudo-fatal façade is the real Marilyn Monroe… With the possible exception of a Scotch landscape, there has seldom been such an ever-changing subject for the photographer. He may miss recording one mood, but a dozen others will assault him with machine-gun recompense.’

Extracted and abridged from Love, Cecil, by Lisa Immordino Vreeland (Abrams, £40).  To order your copy for £30 with free p&p, call 0844-871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

License this content